Thomas M. “T.J.” Lane III’s attorney was in Geauga County Common Pleas Court March 26 to argue that the Chardon High School shooter should not have been sentenced to life without parole since he was a juvenile at the time of the murders. A panel of three judges from the 11th District Court of Appeals heard oral arguments for and against the appeal for Lane, who shot and killed three students on Feb. 27, 2012 at the high school.
Each side had 15 minutes to argue their points before Judges Timothy P. Cannon, Cynthia Westcott Rice and Thomas R. Wright.
Defense attorney Michael Partlow said Lane should not have automatically been bound over as an adult just because he was 17 at the time.
Trying Lane as an adult was “cruel and unusual punishment,” Partlow added.
“Young age is always a mitigating factor,” he said.
Lane, now 19, was sentenced on March 19, 2013, by Geauga County Common Pleas Judge David L. Fuhry to three life terms without parole. He pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted murder and felonious assault.
Geauga County Prosecutor James Flaiz said a mandatory juvenile bindover in aggravated homicide cases is constitutional.
“We’re not just going to let a 17-year-old who shoots somebody in the head out of (juvenile prison) when he turns 21,” Flaiz said.
In addition, the prosecutor noted that since Lane pleaded guilty, he can’t go back and attack every aspect of the law.
“His age, psychological issues, school background and family background were all taken into consideration,” Flaiz said. “This is a juvenile offender who was almost 18.”
Earlier this month, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a trial court must reconsider the sentence of life without parole for another juvenile convicted of aggravated murder.
Eric Long was 17 when he was involved in two killings in the Cincinnati area in 2009 with two adults. Long’s appeal claimed such a sentence was unconstitutional and cruel and unusual punishment.
Partlow said he believes the Long case applies to Lane.
“What the Long case tells us is that youth is always a mitigating factor,” said the defense attorney.
Flaiz disagreed.
“(Lane) methodically and cold-bloodedly went into a school and killed people,” the prosecutor added.
Lane, a student at Lake Academy in Willoughby, was at Chardon High that day to catch a bus when he fatally shot 17-year-old Russell King Jr. and 16-year-olds Demetrius Hewlin and Daniel Parmertor. He wounded three others.
At sentencing, Lane refused to allow his defense team to present any mitigating evidence whatsoever to show why he should be granted parole. He also wore a T-shirt with the word “Killer” on it similar to what he wore the day of the shootings, smirked throughout the proceeding and made an obscene gesture at the victims’ families.
As is the norm in appellate proceedings, Lane — who remains at the Allen Correctional Institution — was not in attendance.
However, several of the victims’ family members watched.
A decision on Lane’s appeal could take up to six months.
“This won’t be the last step,” Flaiz said after the hearing. “No matter what happens here today, I anticipate that the case will be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, or it could be sent back for re-sentencing. Under either of these scenarios, we’re going to have further proceedings. It’s not going to be over for awhile, unfortunately.”